SCIENCE LAB SCORES : HELIUM-BREATHERS

INALIENABLE SITES : Attention all helium breathers : LHS 1140b has the welcome mat out.

A few key features make a planet amenable to life, at least life as earthlings know it. It should be rocky, be at the right temperature for liquid water to exist and have an atmosphere.

Now astronomers say they have found a world with all three traits.

'' At this point, we have absolutely no evidence for life on the planet,'' said the planetary scientist  Collin Cherubin.

'' But we think all of the really important, essential ingredients are there.''

The rocky planet, named LHS1140b, is a few dosen light years from our solar system. It orbits a star within a distance known as the habitable zone, neither too hot nor too cold for the liquid water to exist on the planet's surface.

The exoplanet is cooler than Earth but bigger in both size and mass.

New data strongly suggests that LHS 140b has a helium rich atmosphere. The detection, published in the journal Science, is the first clear evidence of a potentially habitable planet with an atmosphere, and reinforces the idea that there exists a population of worlds similar to our own with the properties necessary to sustain life.

'' When there's one, there's more in exoplanets,'' said Sara Seager, an astrophysicist who was not involved in the study.

'' Hopefully this is the start of something new.''

An atmosphere is vital for habitability because it helps a planet hold on to water, regulates the climate and protects the surface from space radiation.

!WOW! thanks Katrina Miller.